Senate Bill sb2002
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2002
By Senator Fasano
11-1405A-07
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to water treatment facilities;
3 creating a pilot program to assess the efficacy
4 of anion exchange for removing hydrogen sulfide
5 from groundwater; requiring the Department of
6 Environmental Protection to administer the
7 program; providing for the program to fund
8 construction of certain treatment facilities at
9 water treatment plants owned and operated by a
10 specified utility company in Pasco County;
11 providing criteria for the department's
12 administration of the program; prohibiting the
13 Florida Public Service Commission from setting
14 rates that allow a utility to recover from its
15 customers moneys that are paid under the
16 program for treatment facilities; providing for
17 facilities constructed using funds provided
18 under the program to be held in trust for the
19 benefit of utility customers; providing for
20 exclusion of the value of such facilities in
21 the sales price if the utility company is sold
22 to a governmental entity; providing an
23 appropriation; providing an effective date.
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25 WHEREAS, hydrogen sulfide is present in aquifers
26 underlying many areas of this state and the use of raw
27 groundwater pumped from these areas to provide drinking water
28 creates problems of taste, odor, and color and deteriorates
29 water lines, fixtures, and appliances, with greater
30 concentrations of hydrogen sulfide causing more severe
31 problems, and
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2002
11-1405A-07
1 WHEREAS, for over a decade the residents of Pasco
2 County have experienced these problems of taste, odor, and
3 color and the deterioration of water lines, fixtures, and
4 appliances as a result of receiving potable water from Aloha
5 Utilities, Inc., which has varying concentrations of hydrogen
6 sulfide, and
7 WHEREAS, after extensive study by various consultants
8 and consideration of options to solve these problems, an
9 independent consultant retained by the Florida Public Service
10 Commission agreed that a water-treatment process known as
11 "anion exchange" is the treatment option most likely to
12 cost-effectively eliminate or minimize the hydrogen sulfide
13 issues, and
14 WHEREAS, while anion exchange has been successfully
15 used to produce quality potable water, it has not been used to
16 remove hydrogen sulfide from raw groundwater, and
17 WHEREAS, anion exchange appears to be a promising
18 solution to problems involving hydrogen sulfide which exist in
19 many areas of the state, particularly in areas where space to
20 construct the treatment facilities is limited, and
21 WHEREAS, it is in the public interest of this state to
22 help fund a large-scale project as a pilot program to confirm
23 the efficacy of anion exchange as a treatment process to
24 remove hydrogen sulfide from raw water withdrawn from the
25 Floridan Aquifer, NOW, THEREFORE,
26
27 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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29 Section 1. (1) The Department of Environmental
30 Protection shall administer a pilot program to assess the
31 efficacy of anion exchange as a treatment process to remove
2
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2002
11-1405A-07
1 hydrogen sulfide from raw water withdrawn from the Floridan
2 Aquifer by hiring Aloha Utilities, Inc., to construct
3 treatment facilities using that process at wells 2, 3, 4, 6,
4 8, and 9 at the water facilities it owns and operates in Pasco
5 County. The department shall:
6 (a) Review and approve all plans and specifications
7 for the treatment facilities before construction;
8 (b) Limit payment to Aloha Utilities, Inc., to not
9 more than $6 million for constructing the treatment facilities
10 and verify that each phase of construction is complete before
11 disbursing funds; and
12 (c) Monitor the operation of the treatment facilities
13 for 1 year after the facilities are placed into service and
14 record the operating costs and effectiveness of the treatment
15 process.
16 (2) The Florida Public Service Commission may not set
17 rates that allow Aloha Utilities, Inc., or its successors to
18 recover from utility customers any moneys paid to Aloha
19 Utilities, Inc., under this section.
20 (3) Aloha Utilities, Inc., shall hold all treatment
21 facilities that are constructed using funds provided under
22 this section in trust for the benefit of its customers. If
23 Aloha Utilities, Inc., is sold to a governmental entity, the
24 sales price must exclude the value of any such treatment
25 facility.
26 Section 2. The sum of $6 million is appropriated from
27 the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Environmental
28 Protection for the purpose of funding construction of
29 treatment facilities that use anion exchange for the pilot
30 program established under this act.
31 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 2002
11-1405A-07
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2 SENATE SUMMARY
3 Creates a pilot program to assess the efficacy of anion
exchange to remove hydrogen sulfide from groundwater.
4 Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to
administer the program. Requires the program to fund
5 construction of certain treatment facilities at water
treatment plants owned and operated by Aloha Utilities,
6 Inc., in Pasco County. Provides criteria for the
department's administration of the program. Prohibits the
7 Florida Public Service Commission from setting rates that
allow a utility to recover from its customers moneys that
8 are paid under the program for treatment facilities.
Provides for facilities constructed using funds provided
9 under the program to be held in trust for the benefit of
customers of Aloha Utilities, Inc. Provides for exclusion
10 of the value of such facilities in the price if Aloha
Utilities, Inc., is sold to a governmental entity.
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